The latest edition of the BPEX weekly includes: Jamie Saves Our Bacon, Consumer Press Activity, New Look Lovepork Website, Cookery Course Competition, Learn to Cook Pork Tour, Bacon Connoisseurs Week, Tip of the week: Cut Straw Costs, Focus On Water Management, Preparing Pigs for Slaughter, Nitrate Pollution Prevention, Farm Incomes, NHS Meat-free Strategy, £3 Million Backing For QSM, Pig and Poultry Live, QSM 10th Birthday, Export Bulletin and International Prices
Finding Latest Feed Info
The continuing weakness of sterling is still holding UK price up but nearby feed wheat futures in the UK have been stable this week at £116-7.
The current extreme drought in Argentina has affected the wheat crop, with production falling 46% on the previous year to record the lowest wheat harvest for 20 years.
Marketing News
Jamie Saves Our Bacon
During the TV programme aired on Thursday evening the plight of the British pig industry was highlighted. In the audience were members from all parts of the industry including the NPA and a number of British farmers. The programme exposed the difference between EU and British production systems and the issue of clearer labelling. The supermarkets all pledged to support British farmers and during the ad breaks two of the top five major multiples were among the advertisers. These included Sainsbury’s promoting their British and Freedom Food Pork range and Waitrose promoting their British Outdoor Bred Pork range. Responses to the programme will be monitored but in summary:
All the major multiples are carrying promotional activity on the cuts featured and many more across the whole fresh pork range, a number of the farmers who appeared on the programme have been interviewed and the new lovepork website has had a huge number of hits and within hours of it going live over 200 entries have been received for the competition. To visit the website, click here. More details to follow:
Consumer Press Activity
A regional & national press release was issued prior to the programme, with offers of the farmers who appeared on the show as spokespeople. The media who have already conducted interviews include: 13 regional papers including Western Morning Press & Yorkshire Post, 17 regional radio stations including 10 BBC stations and 4 regional TV stations which included BBC Look North Hull & Leeds and ITV West & West Country
New Look Lovepork Website
The new and updated www.lovepork.co.uk website features new recipes inspired by Jamie, along with a simple steps guide on how to cook pork properly. To help drive visitors to the website and encourage them try out and cook more traditional cuts of pork online banner advertising has been placed on the following food/recipe related websites, from end of Jan until the end of February/early March.
Please note that the ads on the following websites are on a ‘share of ads’ basis, which means that the ads will appear randomly. However in total they will appear more than 10million times, throughout the duration of the online campaign.
Yahoo Mail & MSN Hotmail – ads will appear when female users with an account log in Foodie/recipes lead sites:
The ads on the Channel 4 pages, have been bought to always appear when clicked on to:
Cookery Course Competition
The website is also running a consumer competition to win a meat cookery day for two, which within the first few hours of going live has received over 200 entries. Visit www.lovepork.co.uk to enter or have a look around.
Learn to Cook Pork Tour
Is on the road next week and all the venues (Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool. Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol) are fully booked, with eager consumers wanting to know how to Cook Pork Properly. The tour will consist of Celebrity MasterChef winner Liz McClarnon and the BPEX Home Economist demonstrating how to ‘Cook Pork Properly’. If you didn’t win a place to attend one of the days and want a few simple guides on how to cook pork properly then go to the updated www.lovepork.co.uk website and download a guide for yourself.
Bacon Connoisseurs Week
More than 230 products from 96 companies have been entered in the competition. The judging takes place next Friday, 6th Feb, with a guest judge from BBC Good Food. For more info on the week go to www.lovebacon.info
Knowledge Transfer
Tip of the week: Cut Straw Costs
A unit trying mulched pallet as a base for their straw dry sow yards says it has been a great success. The mulched pallet is very cheap and the unit manager said they would definitely recommend it; there are no problems with nails as they are removed with a huge magnet during processing. The mulch is very good for moisture collection and drainage.
Although it has reduced their straw usage it would not be possible for it to make up all the bedding as the sows cannot bury themselves in it and it has poor thermal value.
Focus On Water Management
Climate change is expected to affect rainfall in winter and summer, resulting in more extreme weather events. Floods and droughts are both more likely and could have a significant impact on farming businesses. Taking action now can help reduce the cost and risks associated with climate change, and also enable farmers and land managers to take advantage of the opportunities climate change brings. Click on the following link to read about water management: http://www.farmingfutures.org.uk/x541.xml
Preparing Pigs for Slaughter
Housing, careful handling, group size, stocking levels as well as loading and transportation can all have a major influence on the welfare of the finished pig and financial returns for the producer.
ADAS, together with BPEX and Vetscore, are to hold 10 early evening workshops (5 pm to 7.30 pm) with refreshments from early February which are free to all producers, unit staff and members of the wider pig industry.
Besides focusing on the on-farm management issues, the most common problems seen in the abattoir will be shown and discussed how they impact on the health and welfare of the live pig.
Meetings are taking place in the South West on the following dates (9th Exeter, 10th Shepton Mallet, and 11th Newbury). If you are interested in attending please contact Lynne Holmes on 01522 751374 or email lynne.holmes@adas.co.uk to book your place. You will be able to collect PIPR points at these events.
Nitrate Pollution Prevention
Defra has updated the NVZs Q&A with the addition of seven new questions, the document can be found by clicking here.
National News:
Farm Incomes
Figures published by Defra today reveal farm incomes in the UK for 2008 have risen showing that total income from farming per head rose by 42 per cent, in real terms to £18,185.
BPEX Senior Economic Analyst Tony Fowler has taken a look at the figures and says: “This is based on the whole agricultural sector and is clearly skewed by the huge rises in cereals seen last year.”
BPEX every month provides estimates of net margins for the pig sector based on spot feed prices and average sale prices, to see the latest, click here.
Over the period involved it is estimated a typical family pig business will have lost more than £150,000
NHS Meat-free Strategy
A strategy document from the NHS on climate change put forward the idea of promoting meat-free menus in hospitals to save greenhouse gases. This idea, first published in The Guardian, did not meet with the enthusiastic approval of either BPEX or EBLEX and chief executives Mick Sloyan and Richard Lowe sent a letter off, the text of which is below.
Sir, Does the NHS exist to help patients get well? After reading yesterday’s front page story on plans to scrap meat from hospital menus we are starting to wonder.
Red meat has an important role to play as part of a healthy balanced diet and is even more important to those who are unwell, as it contains iron and zinc which is vital for healing.
Simply taking meat off hospital menus not only undermines convalescence but also smacks of a simplistic, knee-jerk reaction to what is a very complex issue.
The Government has laid down minimum standards for schools serving meat - as growing children need a healthy balanced diet – in the same way hospital patients do for recovery. An interesting parallel!
Though the letter wasn’t published, the NHS director of sustainability Dr David Pencheon did have a letter published which began: There are absolutely no plans to completely remove meat from NHS menus. A reassuring move but work will continue.
£3 Million Backing For QSM
It’s business as usual for the Quality Standard Mark for pork bacon and ham says BPEX Chairman Stewart Houston.
At the end of last week, the AHDB board approved a move to put £500,000 from across all levy boards behind the Red Tractor.
But, before this can happen, State Aids approval must be obtained from Brussels and this is unlikely before the tail end of this year.
BPEX remains totally committed to promoting the high standards under which producers and processors operate in this country.
The QSM, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary, has benefited the industry and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The BPEX business plan for 2009/10, which was recently agreed with the industry, has a marketing spend underpinning the QSM over the next financial year of almost £3 million.
Pig and Poultry Live
A groundbreaking new one day event, Pig and Poultry Live 09 is being launched by the Royal Agricultural Society of England in partnership with leading nutrition firm ABN.
Producers and supply chain businesses looking for inspiration and a greater understanding of how to tackle industry challenges in these volatile times will not want to miss this event taking place on Wednesday 13th May 2009 at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. For further information contact Alice Bell on 02476 858 276 or at aliceb@rase.org.uk
QSM 10th Birthday
Press, retailers, producers, politicians and industry leaders gathered in London on Tuesday to celebrate the 10th birthday of the QSM.
The main focus of the event was to highlight the work being done to promote the QSM particularly to the press and retailers.
BPEX chairman Stewart Houston and Richard Bacon MP are pictured at the event, with a litter of BPEX piglets!
The event was held in the Gordon Ramsay Restaurant at Claridges and Gordon himself paid tribute to the QSM. To read his statement, click here.
International News:
Export Bulletin
For the latest export bulletin, click here.
International Prices
Click here for the latest international prices.